Many things can affect how your body responds to a symptom and what kind of care you may need. These include:

• Your age. Babies and older adults tend to get sicker quicker.
• Your overall health. If you have a condition such as diabetes, HIV, cancer, or heart disease, you may need to pay closer attention to certain symptoms and seek care sooner.
• Medicines you take. Certain medicines, herbal remedies, and supplements can cause symptoms or make them worse.
• Recent health events, such as surgery or injury. These kinds of events can cause symptoms afterwards or make them more serious.
• Your health habits and lifestyle, such as eating and exercise habits, smoking, alcohol or drug use, sexual history, and travel.

Shock is a life-threatening condition that may quickly occur after a sudden illness or injury.

Adults and older children often have several symptoms of shock. These include:

• Passing out (losing consciousness).
• Feeling very dizzy or lightheaded, like you may pass out.
• Feeling very weak or having trouble standing.
• Not feeling alert or able to think clearly. You may be confused, restless, fearful, or unable to respond to questions.

Shock is a life-threatening condition that may occur quickly after a sudden illness or injury.

Babies and young children often have several symptoms of shock. These include:

• Passing out (losing consciousness).
• Being very sleepy or hard to wake up.
• Not responding when being touched or talked to.
• Breathing much faster than usual.
• Acting confused. The child may not know where he or she is.

Pain in adults and older children

• Severe pain (8 to 10): The pain is so bad that you can’t stand it for more than a few hours, can’t sleep, and can’t do anything else except focus on the pain.
• Moderate pain (5 to 7): The pain is bad enough to disrupt your normal activities and your sleep, but you can tolerate it for hours or days. Moderate can also mean pain that comes and goes even if it’s severe when it’s there.
• Mild pain (1 to 4): You notice the pain, but it is not bad enough to disrupt your sleep or activities.

Pain in children under 3 years

It can be hard to tell how much pain a baby or toddler is in.

• Severe pain (8 to 10): The pain is so bad that the baby cannot sleep, cannot get comfortable, and cries constantly no matter what you do. The baby may kick, make fists, or grimace.
• Moderate pain (5 to 7): The baby is very fussy, clings to you a lot, and may have trouble sleeping but responds when you try to comfort him or her.
• Mild pain (1 to 4): The baby is a little fussy and clings to you a little but responds when you try to comfort him or her.

You may need a tetanus shot depending on how dirty the wound is and how long it has been since your last shot.

• For a dirty wound that has things like dirt, saliva, or feces in it, you may need a shot if:
  • You haven’t had a tetanus shot in the past 5 years.
  • You don’t know when your last shot was.
• For a clean wound, you may need a shot if:
  • You have not had a tetanus shot in the past 10 years.
  • You don’t know when your last shot was.

Symptoms of infection may include:

• Increased pain, swelling, warmth, or redness in or around the area.
• Red streaks leading from the area.
• Pus draining from the area.
• A fever.

Symptoms of a spinal cord injury in an adult or older child may include:

• Severe neck or back pain.
• Not being able to move a part of the body. (This is not the same as being unable to move because of pain or because of a direct injury to that area.)
• Weakness, tingling, or numbness in the arms or legs.
• New loss of bowel or bladder control.

With severe bleeding, any of these may be true:

• Blood is pumping from the wound.
• The bleeding does not stop or slow down with pressure.
• Blood is quickly soaking through bandage after bandage.

With moderate bleeding, any of these may be true:

• The bleeding slows or stops with pressure but starts again if you remove the pressure.
• The blood may soak through a few bandages, but it is not fast or out of control.

With mild bleeding, any of these may be true:

• The bleeding stops on its own or with pressure.
• The bleeding stops or slows to an ooze or trickle after 15 minutes of pressure. It may ooze or trickle for up to 45 minutes.

Some types of facial wounds are more likely to leave a scar than others. These include:

• Jagged wounds on the face.
• Cuts on the eyelids.
• Cuts to the lips, especially if they cut through the edge of the lip.

Stitches or other treatment may help prevent scarring. It’s best to get treated within 8 hours of the injury.

Symptoms of a skull fracture may include:

• Clear or bloody fluid draining from the ears or nose.
• Bruising under the eyes or behind the ears.
• Drooping of the face.
• A dent anywhere on the head.

Symptoms of difficulty breathing can range from mild to severe. For example:

• You may feel a little out of breath but still be able to talk (mild difficulty breathing), or you may be so out of breath that you cannot talk at all (severe difficulty breathing).
• It may be getting hard to breathe with activity (mild difficulty breathing), or you may have to work very hard to breathe even when you’re at rest (severe difficulty breathing).

Severe trouble breathing means:

• You cannot talk at all.
• You have to work very hard to breathe.
• You feel like you can’t get enough air.
• You do not feel alert or cannot think clearly.

Moderate trouble breathing means:

• It’s hard to talk in full sentences.
• It’s hard to breathe with activity.

Mild trouble breathing means:

• You feel a little out of breath but can still talk.
• It’s becoming hard to breathe with activity.

Severe trouble breathing means:

• The child cannot eat or talk because he or she is breathing so hard.
• The child’s nostrils are flaring and the belly is moving in and out with every breath.
• The child seems to be tiring out.
• The child seems very sleepy or confused.

Moderate trouble breathing means:

• The child is breathing a lot faster than usual.
• The child has to take breaks from eating or talking to breathe.
• The nostrils flare or the belly moves in and out at times when the child breathes.

Mild trouble breathing means:

• The child is breathing a little faster than usual.
• The child seems a little out of breath but can still eat or talk.

Certain health conditions and medicines weaken the immune system’s ability to fight off infection and illness. Some examples in adults are:

• Diseases such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and HIV/AIDS.
• Long-term alcohol and drug problems.
• Steroid medicines, which may be used to treat a variety of conditions.
• Chemotherapy and radiation therapy for cancer.
• Other medicines used to treat autoimmune disease.
• Medicines taken after organ transplant.
• Not having a spleen.